I Feel Like the Pointer Sisters!

...I'm so excited!

I'm writing this post from the DFW airport on my way Salt Lake City to recruit at BYU. I've done this before, but I get excited every trip because I know that at some point we're going to eat at Tucanos Brazilian Grill. Tucanos is a churrascaria (pronounced "Chew-haas-car-ia" if you want to sound like a fancy-pants).

A churrascaria is heaven on earth. You sit at a table and servers bring rack after rack after rack of delicious Brazilian meats. And if you thought the Brazilians knew how to make beautiful people and beautiful scenery...wait 'til you try their meats! Every single bite is like a little slice of the next life....and they don't stop bringing you more until you say stop. If you haven't been to one before: go. Go right now. Don't worry about repercussion or cost 'cause it's worth it. I promise.

So tonight, as you wonder what Todd Sierer is up to (something you do each night I'm sure), know that he is stuffed like a Christmas goose, enjoying the sweet afterglow of filet mignon, pork loin and grilled pineapple. De-lisch!!!

Say Goodbye to the Next Hour

If you're a geography nerd like me, then I'm warning you ahead of time that this game is going to suck hours of your time away. Don't say I didn't warn you. It probably doesn't fit in this blog window, but go to the link above to play on a full screen.

Kristi: thanks for this great game!!!

brought to you by TravelPod, the World's Original Travel Blog ( Part of the TripAdvisor Media Network )

Oh The Beating I'd Receive...

My parents might have put me up for adoption if I had done this:

Kid Gets Stuck in Washing Machine.


Mom, Dad: this is way worse than the time I got that bead stuck in Liz's nose and we had to go to the doctor's office to get it removed. However, it's not nearly as bad as the time I pushed Liz into a table and split her forehead open.

On Super Bowl Halftime Shows

Can anyone explain the logic behind the last three Super Bowl Halftime shows?

The Rolling Stones (2006) looked like the walking dead and their set had the energy of an elementary school orchestra performance.

Prince (2007) hasn't made a decent album since the 80's, not to mention it's freaking Prince...how on earth does he make the list of "popular acts that football fans enjoy?" Did you see all the confused looks on people's faces?

Tom Petty (2008), like the Rolling Stones, is actually not alive and is made entirely of wood. I don't care if he's classic, he's washed up and not captivating. At all.

Next year, please write your senator and ask them to find someone that's going to rock out (like U2 did in 2002), or go back to the whole shotgun approach for the halftime show where you pick a popular artist from every genre and give them each one song, throw in some fireworks and then get back to commercials.

Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

Monday marked my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. I love them both so much and hope the have a great few days down in Vegas.

Bummer

My good friend Minh is in town this weekend and I was really looking forward to a photo walk with him around Austin this morning. He's my hero as far as photography goes, because he's a mild-mannered sales engineer by day, and a hip, plugged in photographer by night. You really should spend a few minutes on his site and check out his great work.


Unfortunately, the combination of sub-zero temps and my cold/allergies are holding me back. Now it'll be another six months or so before I can learn from Minh the Master.


Check out my Flickr page for some of my photos.

On Cough Syrup

It blows my mind to think that in this time of revolutionary computer technology and groundbreaking medical advancements, cough syrup still tastes like fermented whale placenta. What would it cost Robitussin to put one of their scientists on the whole "our-product-tastes-like-badger-urine" issue?

Can anyone explain this? Anybody?

3 Days to Go...

I'll be honest, we're a little nervous about singing the National Anthem this Saturday at the Austin Ice Bats' game. Luckily the arena only has seats for around 500. Nick gave me a great suggestion for how to really make an impression: sing this classic tune instead...



If you're going to the game, make sure to bring a camera so we can post the results on the blog.

Todd's Take on I Am Legend

** Spoilers Below **

I watched I Am Legend last week, and after several days of thinking, I've decided that it was a combination of scary-to-the-point-of-almost-pooping-myself and a let-down.

It's really scary. They did a great job of using the emptiness of New York City to keep you on your toes the whole time. I spent most of the hour and a half holding onto the guy next to me (yes, it was a dude, and no, we weren't on a date. It was a guys movie night with some friends from church), as we waited for the next startling zombie encounter.

Despite the great suspense and special effects used to turn NYC into a jungle, the movie was an overall let-down. They tried to span both a blockbuster, big-budget action film and a last-man-on-earth character story, and missed both targets.

On the blockbuster side, all the big sweeping shots of an empty New York set a very large stage that the story underutilized. The main antagonist, a zombie gang leader, only showed up in a few scenes. His intelligence was under appreciated by Will Smith's character early on, and so encounters felt flat instead of crescendoing towards the finale. It was short (101 minutes), so they could have spent a few more scenes developing the rivalry between Will Smith and the zombie leader, and thereby making the heroic final fight more climactic.

Because they tried to do both an epic movie and character piece, Will Smith's character development left wanting. They had a chance to delve more into his psychosis after years of being alone, and show only brief references to the empty city around him. But instead they had him golfing off an aircraft carrier and hunting with a Ford Mustang, making his few revelatory scenes feel cheap.

I guess I'm being a little snobby, but when you have all the ingredients to make a delicious Todd's Top 100 Films (more later), and instead you make no-bake cheesecake, I'm gonna get a little upset.

Todd's Rating:

What I Did on My Winter Vacation

Hey Blournalers!

No, I'm not dead, nor have I forgotten about my little niche on the Interwebs. I've been very busy the last few weeks and am finally finding some time to write again. Here's a brief recap of what I've been up to the last three weeks.

Church Christmas Party

Our congregation's theme was "A Night in Jerusalem." And while we didn't have the budget that other churches have for this kind of thing, we did a pretty decent job. I was asked to play the part of King Herod, and I decided that I'd make my own costume instead of doing the typical "wear a bathrobe and towel around your head." It was a lot of work, and Katie helped a lot, but I think the end result was pretty sweet:

FAQs:

1. Yes, the beard is painted on. I only have seven facial hair and they are located on my neck. I used the same technique as my Halloween costume from last year.

2. Yes, those are Christmas tree beads I'm using as a belt.

3. I have a serious look on my face because I'm in character, and my character was a pretty bad dude.

Katie Graduates from Texas Tech Nursing School

Katie worked her buns off for this and couldn't be happier. I am so proud of her and am glad that she's found a career she really loves. You can read about the celebration lunch we had on her blog.

Christmas in Arizona

Katie's family is from Afton, Wyoming. It's cold there. Really cold. So they try to spend Christmas someplace warm and this year we all went to Scottsdale for a week of rest and relaxation. Katie's sister also coordinated her wedding with the trip, so the entire family was present to see Carrie and James get hitched. She looked beautiful and he's a baller that I look forward to hanging out with more in the future.

Hanging out with Uncle Jim

Katie and I decided to drive to Phoenix from Austin (920 miles!!!) so that we could stop through Tucson on our way back and visit my Uncle Jim. He has several unique hobbies, which makes hanging out really fun. As you can see by the pictures, Jim is a big motorcycle aficionado with plenty of extra duds for us to try out. He's also a big country dancer. The thing we like best about Jim is his artistic side. He has made several painting that hang up in our house and as a Christmas gift he gave us another beautiful painting (pictures coming soon).

Life and Death on the I-10

After a few passing up the sketchy hotel options in El Paso, we decided to drive back from Tucson in a single shot. That meant driving from 7pm to 9am the day before New Years. I drove through the night and Katie drove the last few hours so I could get some sleep. I don't recommend doing that, but I also don't recommend stopping anywhere in between.

So there's a recap of my last three weeks (not to mention all the work). I promise to write more in the future and I hope you have a great 2008!

Star-Spangled Surprise

This January, my company's annual employee appreciation week is going to include an "NI Night at the Ice Bats," Austin's minor league hockey team. As part of this celebration of our awesomeness, an NI employee is going to sing the National Anthem at the opening of the game, or match, or try, or whatever you call a hockey competition.

Since we'd probably never have another chance to sing at the beginning of a sporting event in our lives, Katie and I tried out last week. Neither of us felt very good about how we did, so we were very surprised to find out that we had been selected. Crazy, right? We are a mix of excited and scared to death. Because it is a really cool opportunity, but it's also an opportunity to screw up royally. Let me show you what I mean.

Here are two great examples of the "Star-Spangled Banner" done right. First, Whitney Houston at the 1990-91 Super Bowl:



Chills, right? Here's Marvin Gaye at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. It's a lesser appreciated rendition, but one that I like quite a bit.



Man, that guy could sing!

Of course, Katie and I are not going to get anywhere near those two famous performances. We just hope to avoid looking like the next three fools that blew their big moment and went down in viral video infamy. We live in Texas, for Pete's sake! People get killed down here for lesser crimes than forgetting the words to the song that Thomas Jefferson and Freedom listened to on the night they slept together to sire the Constitution and the Magna Carta!

I'm going to tattoo the lyrics to the inside of my eyelids!

Katie's a Nurse!!!

After a grueling 12 months in Texas Tech's one-year, second bachelor's degree nursing program, Katie is a full-fledged nurse!!! With over 1000 hours in-hospital, and 20+ credits a semester, I'm so proud of her and all her hard work and dedication. I'm also very excited to get my wife back!

I can't think of another person I'd want taking care of me or my loved ones in the hospital. Katie's love for others and work ethic will set her apart as a fantastic caregiver and make thousands of lives better over the course of her career.

To celebrate, we invited friends to join us at Waterloo Icehouse for lunch this Saturday.

A big thanks to everyone that came out and even bigger thanks to Byron and Tara for getting the ball rolling on this activity.

This is How We Roll

As many of you know, I've recently moved from our company's "Engineering Leadership Program" to our Marketing department, where I work on our most important product: LabVIEW.

What does that mean? Well, ELP was like a halfway house between college and being a grown-up: I worked hard, but I also spent a lot of time playing cubical soccer and watching funny videos. Now that I'm a "big timer" on the 8th floor, I spend my time writing technical documents and launching new LabVIEW versions. That means I've got to bring my A game, which means I need to dress the part. Especially when you consider who I'm working with.

Check out PJ on the left, and Meisel (sorry, no blog single entry for him) on the right. These ballers are gettin' it done on the phone, too busy to even pose for the camera.

Here's Neal, Eli and me laughing at how cool the iPhone is:

And how about my boss:

With a team of this caliber, he's got time to take it easy and look good.

Here are a few more pictures from around the office. It's easy to see why everyone else in Marketing is jealous of us.

Lil' Sis Ties the Knot

My lil' sis Liz got married on December 1st in Portland, Oregon. I've never seen her more beautiful and I'm so happy for her and my new brother-in-law, Scott. Here's a pic of the handsome bloke:

Amazingly, I didn't get a single good picture of the two of them together, but you can read more at Katie's blog and Mom's blog.

I have a lot of great memories of growing up with Liz. We are a little over two years apart, so we spent a lot of time playing after school and in the summers as kids. And we were at college together for several years and shared a lot of mutual friends. There are too many inside jokes and funny stories to share in this post, so I'll just leave you with my two favorite pictures from the wedding, the ones that remind me of the sister I love so much:

Love ya, sista!

I Should Have Been Born in Japan

I love comedy. I love it. I love laughing and I love making people laugh. And ever since Al Gore invented the Internet and people stated putting funny videos on it, I've had a steady stream of material to share with others.

Over time I've learned that I have a pretty random/weird sense of humor. I can usually gauge if the general public will laugh at what I think is funny by running it past my wife. If she laughs, then I'm probably safe to share it with others. But if she gives me that "what-was-I-thinking-when-I-said-'I do?'" look, then I should use caution.

Here's an example of something that got me "the look:"


Pretty funny, right? But also kind of random. So I've seen a couple Japanese videos recently that made me realize that I was born in the wrong country, or that I was adopted (and if that's true, then my parents have a lot of explaining to do. Not to mention the fact that I am a genetic wonder, since one would never deduce my Japanese heritage by looking at me). The Japanese sense of humor, or at least their TV entertainment, perfectly fits my sense of humor.

Take for example any video from this game show. While the English voice-overs completely change the intent, the competitions themselves are hilarious and bizarre, and my kind of funny. And this game show punishes contestants that can't finish tongue-twisters:



What amazes me: the rest of them actually go through with it after the first guy gets nailed. You couldn't pay enough to do that. No way.


The premise of the following video answers one of my long standing inner debates: would the fastest speed walker in the world run instead of walk if attacked. Who hasn't asked themselves this question?



Answer: he runs (and I love when the commentator says, "and he doesn't run very fast" at the 2:24 mark).

Can you imagine being the creative talent behind this show? "Okay, Mrs. Executive Producer, we've got this idea for a sketch, but we're going to need to fly in the world champion speed walker from Ecuador, lie to him, and then attack him with Samurai." And then the producer says "yes!" This would be my dream job!

Or how about being the writers behind these two Fanta commercials? (Credit to Double M for finding them first)




Pure genius! Do you agree? What would be your Japanese game show or commercial idea?

Can Mercy Rob Justice? Nay!

For the second glorious year in a row, BYU has defeated its bitter, in-state rival, the University of the Great Satan Utah. And while it can’t compare to 2006’s last second miracle, this year’s game had its own game changing play with only a minute to go (see photo above, and no, Photoshop was not involved).

I consider myself a pretty compassionate, loving person; but there’s not a cell in my body that doesn’t hate everything about the University of Sodom and Gomorrah Utah. I was in Salt Lake a few months ago and happened to drive by the losers’ Utes’ practice field, where the mangy lot, the team, the inmates, they were practicing. It took all my strength to not veer the rental car on to the field and put them out of their misery. To their credit, and to my surprise, looking at the campus didn’t turn me into a pillar of salt, although the lamb’s blood on my car door probably helped.

My hatred for that junior college school up north doesn’t mean I hate people that went there. I have a lot of friends who went to the Poo U, and I know for a fact that they don’t have horns are good people with no criminal records that I’m aware of. I just don’t have any respect for the institution itself.

What kills me is the way Utes try to talk about BYU, its students and alumni. They love to talk about how nerdy we are, how backwards we are, how sheltered we are in “happy valley,” how old-fashioned we are. The fact of the matter is, the most vocal Utes are often Mormon, and let’s be honest, as a people, we Mormons ARE pretty nerdy, backwards, sheltered and old-fashioned. And, as a people, we’re cool with that. So just because you went to a lower-ranked, yet more expensive school (see here and here), don’t pretend like you’re so cool, ‘CAUSE YOU STILL LIVE IN UTAH.

17-10. The Church is still true. See you next year.

This Lady is Crazy

While Gwen Stefani is by no means at Fergie's level of awful artistic output (I've blogged about my hate for the F, to E, to G, I, E before), but this pile of horse pucky song is out of control.

Don't get me wrong, I love the No Doubt Gwen Stefani, but the solo Gwen Stefani puts out weird, over-produced junk. What's even worse, it's been 24 hours since I heard this song at the gym, and I still can't get it out of my head.

You've Got to Check This Out!

My good friend Brent tipped me off to this great site that lets you call a number and record a message, which then gets transcribed and sent to your email, or anyone else's email you want.

I tend to come up with ideas and to-do's at very inconvenient times (driving, walking between buildings at work, sleeping, surgery, eating chips and salsa, volunteering at nursing home beauty parlours, etc.). I also tend to forget those ideas and to-do's if I don't write them down immediately. With Jott, I don't have to fumble around my car for a pen and paper while driving (like I did that time I was in Seattle during snowstorm). I can just call the number, leave a message, and a text version will be in my inbox before I get home.

Check it out, and please post any other cool, productivity sites you use in the comments for all to try out!

Vacation Time

Katie and I are on vacation this week in beautiful St. George, UT, to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. We get plenty of rest and relaxation and really enjoy the fantastic scenery (Utah has 12 national parks and monuments, more than any other state).

We try to go on at least one good hike when we come, so yesterday Katie, Dad and I went on a four mile hike in the hills behind my parent's home.




What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Great Moments in Business

I think I have played each of the roles covered in this ad at least once:

Which ones have you been?